Worcester City 3
Harriers 2
HARRIERS crashed out of the Worcestershire Senior Cup at the semi-final stage after suffering a derby defeat to Worcester during a Monday night packed with flukey goals and drama.
Mark Danks' extra-time goal was enough to see Harriers' last chance of silverware end in heartache, after the visitors had battled back from behind twice.
Manager Mark Yates picked himself, Neil Howarth and physio Ian Foster in the starting 11 and also handed rare starts to Paul Bignot, Dean Coleman and Jonny Harkness, while Brian Smikle was named captain.
But a nearly full-strength Worcester side, which was without Harriers' on-loan defender Jon Munday, started strongly and opened the scoring in the fourth minute.
Bignot's header directed Jamie Price's free-kick into the box and Matt Dinsmore rifled the ball past keeper Coleman.
Harriers bagged a bizarre leveller on the half-hour mark when Foster's left wing cross curled into the back of the net.
City restored their lead in the 53rd minute with a carbon copy of Harriers' goal, after Price's free-kick from the right beat Coleman.
Yates had a powerful effort saved by keeper Cameron Belford and Howarth bundled the ball into the back of the net from the resulting corner to make it 2-2 in the 66th minute.
Harriers pressed for a winner but Penn saw a spectacular 30-yard effort acrobatically saved by Belford near the end of normal time.
City's keeper denied Matthew Barnes-Homer twice in the first period of extra-time.
Danks then settled the derby clash when his powerful header from Price's corner was spilled over the line by Coleman, to ensure Worcester will meet Redditch United in the final.
Harriers: Coleman 6; Bignot 7; Harkness 6; Hurren 6; McGrath 6; Howarth (Russell, 90, 6) 7; SMIKLE 8; Ferrell 6; Yates 7 (Christie, 90, 6); Foster 7 (Barnes-Homer, 46, 6); Penn 6.
Worcester: Belford; Ward (Brown, 98); Price; Smith; Clarke; Wood; Colley; Burtoft (Danks, 84); Dinsmore; Wilding; Walker (Khan, 77).
Referee: Adam Watts (Kidderminster). Attendance: 544.
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